“Please join me in my prayer.” Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen. (Ps. 19:14)
Introduction:
In today’s reading, we hear of Jesus walking on water, a reading we have heard many times before, but it is a fascinating reading because here we see Jesus’ defying, or changing the laws of physics.
To many it is his greatest miracle, (outside the resurrection of course), and it is this miracle that many magicians try to emulate as the ultimate magic trick or miracle; and some of them are very good. I once saw a magician casually walking beside the Embankment by the Thames in London, and who was somehow distracted by potential assailants, and ended up walking on the River Thames to escape; leaving his pursuers so shocked and dumbfounded that they gave up in wonder. It was so well done and believable, yet deep down we all knew it was a trick, and it was obvious there were boards or something hidden in the water to carry his weight, although we didn’t know how.
Regardless of how brilliant it was, it would never compare to the magnificence of Jesus, for example, Jesus wasn’t doing this in front of a large audience, and he didn’t say, “and that’s magic” at the end it, because it was only his disciples who were present. And … Jesus wasn’t just walking a few feet or a few yards into flat calm water, verse 24 tells us he was walking miles into the middle of a lake, a very large and stormy lake at that, and he wasn’t doing it during the day either, he did it at night … in the dark, when you cannot read the wind and the waves, and … without any modern navigation.
It makes you wonder, what was going through his mind.
With all this taken into account, we can see that this was quite an event, a substantial miracle to say the least. … And it makes us wonder, what exactly was going through Jesus mind before hand, because in verse 22, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat, to go on ahead to the other side, and that he would catch them up, later.
Now did Jesus think to himself, “Well that was a hard day feeding those 5000, I really need a break, a bit of time to myself. … I know, I will send the disciples on ahead, and I will catch up with them later. … Mind you, they will be far out in the lake by then, ack never mind, it’s a good night for it, I will just walk out to them. … although it will probably scare the life out of them, ack … it will be good laugh”.
Ok, that is a cheap attempt at humour, but somehow … that is what Jesus must have said, or something like that, because that is what he did. What I am trying to say here is that Jesus, as we all know, thought on a completely different level from the rest of us, and it is that level he is wanting us to aspire to.
Now, I cannot see us walking on water, I don’t have that kind of faith as yet, but I do believe Jesus wants us to master the storms in our lives, in a similar manner; … because the storms of life just did not bother him, he did not ever, let them get to him.
And you may say, woe, that is pretty strong, but you know, whatever we are going through, regardless of how bad it may seem to us … our problems would be utterly destroyed in the gracious love of God as we all know. … And this reminds me of the story of where a lady said to her minister once, (in an attempt to impress him), that she only takes the small things to the lord, because she doesn’t want to bother him with the bigger things, whereas the minister was quick to reply, "Lady, anything you bring to God is small". … And I like that, because God is bigger than any problem that we will ever face.
That is what the Christian religion is trying to teach us, to master and overcome the trials and tribulations of life, and … and use them to develop and strengthen our faith, rather than … to let them over whelm, or destroy us. Do you see the difference.
Satan wants us to fail.
Let us put it a different way, in Luke 22 verses 31 and 32, Jesus knew Peter would deny him, yet he called him to be his disciples, saying “Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you … that your faith will not fail; and that when you are converted, you will strengthen your brethren”.
The mistakes we make, the mess we get our selves into, and the bad situations we find ourselves in, (remember I am an authority on this), do not, ever, put us beyond the reach of God’s grace … and the secret to victory is therefore to use our mistakes and short comings, to lead us onto victory, rather than let Satan use them to destroy us. This is very powerful teaching indeed.
Notice the words in that verse, “Satan has desired to have you”, meaning that he is wanting to take back from us, that which he has lost. … And he does this by letting us focus on our doubts, and where they could lead. … And he then, allows us, he does not force us, allows us to descend into those doubts, and the worst possible scenario, as our thoughts are then fixed on self-destruct and its manifestation.
However, when we turn to the Lord, with hope in our hearts, he can guide us through our difficulties, walking on top of the waves so to speak, making something useful of our failings in a manner not only to strengthen us, but our “brethren” also as the verse says … and that is why we must start thinking like Jesus, thinking with hope in our hearts rather than despair, thinking positively, believing that we can overcome our difficulties too, knowing that through him who is guiding us, we not only can, but will also overcome.
Get out the boat in the first place.
Now, returning to our reading where we see an example of this, with Peter getting out of the boat, and yes Peter did get out of the boat, and he did walked on the water also … however, Peter let his problems get to him, in this case, it was the wind and the waves, and the storm, and gravity too of course … and he started to believe in them, which is understandable, but as he did, he let them get into his head, and pull him down, just as Satan wanted, allowing him to focus on his doubts and fears.
There is much more going on here than that.
But there is much more going on here, as I will now explain. First of all, Peter was in a pretty miserable state, he was terrified the ship would sink and that he would drown. … Now Peter was an experienced fisherman, which tells us the storm was indeed bad … but somethings had changed … what had made him get out the boat?
What caused the change.
Well obviously, it was the sight of Jesus, the bible tells us that, but what was going on internally in Peters mind, because mentally he went from fear, despondency and destruction, and onto hope, joy and life.
That’s quite a transformation, he is now saying to himself, I am going to live … if this ship sinks, so what … I can walk on the water just like Jesus, I can do it, because he will show me how.
Now the wind and waves were just as bad,
Now this is important, the wind and waves were just as bad, and the boat was still full of water and about to sink … but through all these troubles, Peter was focused on Jesus in the midst of that storm … and not the slightest bit bothered by all these hostile elements and that, gave Peter that aha moment, when he said to himself, I can do it … and that moment only came, the second he saw Jesus in the midst of that storm.
That then is our answer too,
That then is our answer too, when things go bad, when terror strikes, look for Jesus in the midst of it, and when we see him in our prayers, and when we know he is there with us, unafraid of the terror that we behold … he gives us the courage to transform ourselves from horror to hope, and empowers us to say, I can do this, I can get through this, I can overcome, “ I can overcome all things through him who strengthens me”, Philippians 4:13.
When we see Jesus, we see our problems disappearing, giving us the courage and inspiration to realise that nothing is lost, and there is everything to gain. We are changed in an instant, just like Peter, from Satan’s fear and destruction, onto life and life abundantly.
2. All didn’t go well for Peter.
Now, to move on, and as we all know, it didn’t go all that well for Peter as he began to sink into the water, and he only started sinking because he looked away from Jesus onto the problems, on to the waves and let Satan’s doubts creep in.
And that leads me into the second thing we need to do, we not only need to look to the lord for our inspiration, but we need to say focus on him … and not the problems. We need to keep that concentration on him, in order to overcome all our doubts, which I must say tend to make themselves very believable. … And can I just add, that if you cannot keep your eyes on Jesus, then focus on the victory, focus on overcoming, and the feelings associated to success.
God is greater than our Problems.
We must therefore think like Jesus as it "is far more important to pray with a sense of the greatness of God, rather than with a sense of the greatness of the problem." … We must focus on the greatness of God's power and the victory, which is far greater than any problem we will ever face.
And yes, it does take faith to do this, but that is the faith that the lord has been trying to develop in us in the first place, faith in him, and faith to overcome. …
So, (and this is another topic which I am not going to discuss), but if the Lord is trying to develop our faith, how big then are these problems?
Tying it together
Anyway, Jesus knew what these disciples were going through, and how their faith was dwindling … that they were imagining the worst that was about to happen … but basically, Jesus was testing their faith … as he does with us, in the storms of our lives, storms where we make bad decisions because of the fear in our hearts, decisions’ where we assume the worse, and basically allow the worst to happen. … Jesus knows how hard life can be for us, but it is surviving these storms that encourage us to become stronger in our faith and endure life and its tribulations.
Those disciples as per expected, had a great fear in the storm, yet after Jesus appeared, they also had a greater respect for him. They said, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him”?
Ending, the storms of life.
To show you how powerful this is, let us briefly look at the storms in our lives, storms which come to us in different forms and … just watch how your mood changes, on just hearing them …, storms that may come in the form of war, or rumours of war. … Look at Ukraine, and the threats of Russia, the wanton destruction and how it has destroyed lives, and it has affected everyone globally, even our economy … how this affects us … our expenses, and making ends meet. …
It affects employment, our work load and our income with ever increasing taxes and inflation … which may lead to sickness and stress, although sickness may appear when it will, cancer, viruses, and a whole list of undesirable ailments. …
And our political regime and our politicians too, our leaders who seem to have lost their way, allowing us to fear what could happen next. …. And when our lives become low, we may turn and get hooked on drink and drugs and any other addictive things, and finally … and not least and not all … our ever-increasing social problems, made worse by our media, encouraging points scoring, peer pressure and one up man ship in petty power struggles, all aimed at inflicting shame. … No, we are not short of storms … that is, as long as Satan gets his way. …
The solution to these storms,
Now let us look at the solution to these storms, by looking for Jesus in any storm, and just like Peter we too can be changed in an instant from fear and hopelessness to victory and success, and as long as we keep our eyes on him, and our eyes on the victory, we too will also endure.
We therefore look to Jesus, the son of God himself, the name above all names, the alpha and the omega … the one we are following right now, through to the gates of heaven itself and into the throne of God. Jesus is our lord and saviour, he is the one who will see us through, and he is the one who will lead us to victory and success … because he is the one who endured the victory on the cross, and delivered us from evil.
Jesus on the cross, put to death our old selves and gave us a new life with him showing us the way. …. On the cross Jesus put to death, all shame, rejection, poverty and sickness, and he even overcame death itself. … All Jesus ever did, was overcome, he overcame all the problems of this world, and he wants us, to follow him, think like him and act like him.
I sincerely hope this morning, I have given you a wee bit of hope to face any of these troubles because Jesus wants us to overcome, and enjoy life to the full. … He wants us to have his peace in our hearts, and the confidence that through him, we too will overcome .... and bring blessing to our brethren. Amen.
